Mavericks GM Nico Harrison brushes off trade value issues in Anthony Davis-Luka Doncic trade with slick remark
Dallas Mavericks General Manager Nico Harrison recently opened up about the Anthony Davis and Luka Doncic trade. Davis and Doncic were traded for each other last February. It was a blockbuster trade that nobody saw coming, especially Mavericks fans. Doncic was seen as the next Dirk Nowitzki and the player who would stick around Dallas throughout his NBA career.
However, Harrison decided to trade Doncic to the LA Lakers in exchange for Davis. This infuriated the entire Mavs fan base as the trade didn't make sense to them. Aside from them being upset to see "Luka Magic" go, many believe that the trade value wasn't even.
Harrison explained Monday during the end-of-season press conference why he couldn't get more assets from the Lakers organization in exchange for Luka Doncic. Harrison said that he believes Anthony Davis is of equal value to Doncic. He then turned the tables around to the fans by saying that if they don't value "AD" the way he does, then they'll forever be sour about the trade:
"I think the biggest thing is if you don't value AD as an All-NBA player and All-Defensive player, then you're not going to like the trade," Harrison said via The Dallas Morning News' Mike Curtis on X/Twitter.
Nico Harrison's bizarre claim about Luka Doncic
Nico Harrison was in attendance for the end-of-season press conference for the Dallas Mavericks. These types of press conferences are usually the time when management reflects on how the season went and how they could improve in the following year.
Since Doncic's departure, the Mavericks have been a hot topic within the basketball world. With that said, the media couldn't help but try to make the Dallas GM address exactly why he chose to trade Doncic.
While Harrison explained his side of the story and why he pulled the trigger on the trade, many were bewildered by his claims. Harrison mentioned in the press conference that he had no idea how important Luka Doncic was to the Mavericks fan base. He said he was flabbergasted by the way fans responded to his actions.
"I did know that Luka was important to the fan base. I didn't quite know it to what level," Harrison said via YahooSports.com.
"But really, the way we looked at it, is if you're putting a team on the floor that's Kyrie (Irving), Klay (Thompson), P.J. (Washington), Anthony Davis and (Dereck) Lively, we feel that's a championship caliber team, and we would've been winning at a high level and that would have quieted some of the outrage.
"And so unfortunately we weren't able to do that, so it just continued to go on and on," he added.
With the LA Lakers securing the No. 3 seed in the 2025 NBA playoffs, it's clear how valuable Luka Doncic truly is.